62 d Congress, 
%d Session. 




HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, j Report 

1 No. 426. 


IMMIGRATION LAW RELATIVE TO ALIEN SEAMEN 

AND STOWAWAYS. 


March 16,1912.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the 

Union and ordered to be printed. 


l/i r 3 / 

Mr. Burnett, from the Committee on Immigration and Naturaliza¬ 
tion, submitted the following 


REPORT. 

* 

[To accompany H. It. 21489.] 

The Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, to whom was 
referred House bill 21489, report the following: 

The bill agreed upon, with some few committee amendments, is 
the result of conferences between the representatives of the steamship 
companies, the Department of Commerce and Labor, the committee, 
and an extended hearing. The bill reported meets with the approval 
of the Department of Commerce and Labor, and is unanimously 
reported by the committee. 

The necessity for this bill arises from the fact that the United 
States Supreme Court in the Taylor case (207 U. S., 120) decided that 
alien seamen who left their ships were not amenable to the provisions 
of the immigration law. The result of this decision has been that 
during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1910, 9,816 deserting alien 
seamen were reported by the various steamship lines, and during 
the fiscal year ending June 30, 1911, 6,594. Doubtless there were 
many more. 

The Commissioner General of Immigration, in his report for the 
fiscal year ending June 30, 1911, has this to say: 

Table XX is a compilation of figures covering alien seamen reported by masters of 
vessels as having deserted. They are known to be very inaccurate. For the past three 
years it has been impossible to obtain from the steamship lines accurate information 
concerning deserters. The decision of the Supreme Court in the Taylor case (207 
U. S., 120), and the fact that a suit in which it was attempted to enforce the payment 
of head tax on account of deserting seamen was decided adversely to the Government, 
tend to encourage noncompliance with the provisions of rule 22 of the immigration 
regulations. The very serious nature of this matter is illustrated by the wholesale 
violations of law discovered in the case of the Hellenic Transatlantic Steam Navigation 











2 


LAW RELATIVE TO ALIEN SEAMEN 


-T>l ^ 

AND STOWAWAYS. 


V 


Co. In that case the immigration officers at New York, acting in conjunction with the 
United States attorney’s office in Brooklyn, obtained very substantial results both as 
regards fines and imprisonments in connection with an investigation of the unlawful 
bringing to the port and landing of aliens placed upon the articles of the ship as em¬ 
ployes, as set forth in the report of the commissioner at New York (p._ 149). . 

In addition to the showing of this table, it should be stated that during the year over 
30,000 Chinese seamen have come into the ports of the United States on merchant 
vessels, and many desertions have occurred. Moreover, Table 21 shows 528 stowaways 
brought to United States ports during the past year as compared with 474 for the 
preceding year. A bill (H. R. 32441) was introduced at the last session of Congress 
which, if enacted into law, will go a long way toward the abatement of these grave 
evils. * * * 

The investigations of the Immigration Commission disclose that 
there is a practice of articling seamen simply for the voyage from a 
foreign country to the United States, and that men so articled are in 
many instances aliens who would be deported if coming as passengers. 
Under the decision in the Taylor case the immigration law does 
not apply to such aliens. This fact, and the fact that the number of 
desertions is increasing, creates a serious situation which requires 
legislation. 

Closely related with this subject is that of stowaways, whose treat¬ 
ment has been a disputed question for years. The bill provides for 
their exclusion, but permits their admission under the discretion of 
the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. The committee deem both 
the exclusion and the exception wise—the exclusion, because in a 
majority of cases stowaways are liable to become public charges; 
and the exception, because in some cases they are political refugees, 
and there should be discretion permitting their admission. 

The number of deserting seamen and alien stowaways with ports 
of arrival is shown in the annexed table. 

Legislation of this character has the unanimous recommendation 
of the Immigrant Commission. 


[Tables from the annual report of the Commissioner General of Immigration for the fiscal year ended 

June 30,1910.] 

Deserting alien seamen , fiscal year ended June 30, 1910 , by ports. 


New York, N. Y . 5,116 

Boston, Mass. 405 

Baltimore, Md. 167 

Philadelphia, Pa. 1, 077 

San Francisco, Cal. 403 

San Juan, P. R.]. 1 

Brunswick, Ga. 26 

Fernandina, Fla. 10 

Galveston, Tex. 304 

Gloucester, Mass. 8 

Gulfport, Miss. 260 

Jacksonville, Fla. 40 

Mobile, Ala.... 133 

Eureka, Cal. 22 

New Bedford, Mass. 24 

New Orleans, La. 439 


Norfolk, Va. 210 

Pascagoula, Miss. 85 

Wilmington, N. C. 39 

Charleston, S. C. 74 

Providence, R. 1. 5 

Pensacola, Fla. 160 

Portland, Me. 16 

Portland, Oreg. 173 

San Diego, Cal.■ 97 

Savannah, Ga. 97 

Seattle, Wash. 285 

Tampa, Fla. 62 

Honolulu, Hawaii. 47 

Alaska. 1 


Total. 9, 816 


9 fit 

23 t§l? 







































/ 


LAW RELATIVE TO ALIEN SEAMEN AND STOWAWAYS. • 3 


[I al>les fiom the annual report of the Commissioner General of Immigration for the fiscal year ended June 

30,1911.] 

Deserted alien seamen, fiscal year ended June 30, 1911, by ports. 


New York, N. Y. 1, 723 

Boston, Mass. ’483 

Philadelphia, Pa. 1,144 

Baltimore, Md. 163 

Portland, Me. 14 

New Bedford, Mass. 6 

Norfolk, Va. 91 

Savannah, Ga. 147 

Key West, Fla. 2 

Tampa, Fla. * 63 

Pensacola . Fla. 217 

Mobile, Ala. 234 

New r Orleans, La. 264 

Galveston, Tex. 294 

San Diego, Cal. 18 

San Francisco, Cal. 414 


Portland, Oreg. 238 

Seattle, Wash. 277 

Gulfport, Miss. 275 

Charleston, S. C. 139 

Pascagoula, Miss. 106 

Newport News, Va. 92 

Los Angeles, Cal. 50 

Port Arthur, Tex. 43 

Brunswick, Ga. 22 

Wilmington, N. C. 18 

Eureka, Cal. 14 

Jacksonville, Fla. 34 

Fernandina, Fla. 9 


Total. 6,594 


This makes the total number of desertions of record for the two fiscal 
3 r ears ended June 30, 1910, and June 30, 1911, 16,410. 


[Tables from the annual report of the Commissioner General of Immigration for the fiscal year ended June 

30, 1910.] 

Alien stowaways found on board vessels arriving at ports of the United States, fiscal year 

ended June 30, 1910, by ports. 


New York, N. Y. 261 

Boston, Mass. 40 

Baltimore, Md. 40 

Philadelphia, Pa. 41 

San Francisco, Cal. 20 

Galveston, Tex. 7 

Gulfport, Miss. 2 

Mobile, Ala. 5 

Tampa, Fla. 3 

Fernandina, Fla. 1 


Wilmington, N.C. 1 

San Diego, Cal. 9 

New Orleans, La. 13 

Norfolk, Va. 1 

Portland, Me. 1 

Savannah, Ga. 3 

Seattle, Wash. 23 

Honolulu, Hawaii. 3 


Total. 474 


[Tables from the annual report of the Commissioner General of Immigration for the fiscal year ended 

June 30,1911.] 


Alien stowaways found on board vessels arriving at ports of the United States, fiscal year 

ended June 30, 1911, by ports. 


New York, N. Y. 

Boston, Mass. 

Philadelphia, Pa 
Baltimore, Md... 
Portland, Me.... 

Norfolk, Va. 

Savannah, Ga... 
Key West, Fla... 

Mobile, Ala. 

New Orleans, La. 
Galveston, Tex.. 


274 

14 

49 

27 

3 

2 ! 

1 

1 j 


15 


San Diego, Cal- 

San Francisco, Cal. 

Portland, Oreg- 

Seattle, Wash. 

Gulfport, Miss.... 
Newport News, Va 
Los Angeles, Cal.. 
Port Arthur, Tex.. 
Fernandina, Fla. . 

Total. 


3 

44 

27 

32 

2 

10 

2 

1 

4 


528 


Tlius the 528 stowaways brought to the United States ports during 
the past fiscal year, as compared with the 474 for the preceding year, 
shows an increase of 54 during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911, 
over the fiscal year ended June 30, 1910, with a total number for the 
two years of 1,002. 

The committee believes that the bill provides an effective remedy 
‘ for the defects in the existing law in regard to deserting alien sea¬ 
men and stowaways, and unanimously recommends its passage. 


o 























































































LIBRARY of 


CONGRESS 








’ 















































